Am I being ignorant or reasonable?

I have a corner property. By some chance my corner pin is well into the asphalt on the road corner. It is what it is so I put some large boulders well back to keep people off the lawn. Prior to that there would be tractor and truck tracks well into my grass. At the least I want my nice lawn to keep looking nice and not rutted.

So I keep a small flat rock on the corner off the asphalt to remind poor drivers where the asphalt stops and where my grass starts. Every now and then someone runs over it and I have to dig it out of the sod and re set it. No big deal. Mostly for two years my lawn was respected. Then a month ago someone stopped and moved the small marker rock and put it on top of the larger boulders. I put it back. Two days later someone stopped and took the rock away. I replaced it a few days later. They took that one too and tracked through the grass to assert dominance. Now I am urinated off. What would you do? Or should I just abandon my property in that area? The small rock was in the depression by the tracks, and my corner pin is about five feet out into the road. It's a big wide corner and I turned it for years with tandem axle dump trucks and equipment trailers without leaving the asphalt. It t feels petty to pursue it, but the alternative is loosing my grass right to the big rocks.

Did you see them take the rock away? If so, report them to the police. Or go and drive through their lawn in the middle of the night. 

If it’s me, though, I’m replacing the rock and driving rebar through it so they don’t take it or move it again. 

Get some of that bright pink surveyor's paint, spray approx where your marker is.  Put a big damned sign up that says something like "that pink mark is my property corner marker.  Stop moving my rocks off my property."

Then set up game cameras and call the cops when someone screws with it.

My choices as I see them are small rock anchored as suggested above, very big ass rock which could cut someone's tire because many people are just crappy drivers, or let them have the corner.

I went to buy a security camera to at least identify the perpetrator but they are in very short supply locally.

Have access to any heavy equipment? If the pissing match continues I'd move the big rocks out to the property line.

And lay down BIGGER rocks.

I'd put a fence up just in that corner specifically. With barbed wire. 

Ya, I'd be highly tempted to scoot the big rocks over to the edge.  

But, I'm kind of a jerk, so...

Don't call the cops because some neighbors moved your rock. It's a rock - the cops have real work to do. I bet someone assumed that the huge rocks marked the actual edge of your yard/land. They moved the small rock for whatever reason and still think they are entitled to do so. They spend 12s thinking about this as they walk by and remove the rock, while you have spent hours turning this over and over in your head. 

The goal must reasonably be to have a nice looking lawn, right? Bright colored paint and huge angry signs will not achieve that. 

I suggest an "all or nothing"-approach. Either move the big rocks to the edge of your property (or remove the rocks and put up a small, elegant fence?). Or, just consider the land inside the rocks as your good looking property and the land outside the rocks as a gift and a service to the community. 

In reply to mtn (Forum Supporter) :

I'd skip the rock & just drive a row of rebar about a foot long, about 10" into the ground, and about 6" apart. 

Anything you do, like moving the big rocks closer to the road or planting rebar, will make you liable when someone berkeleys their E36 M3 up taking the corner too tight. 

I'm in the "move the big rocks out" or "put up a nice fence" camp.

Anti-tank mines. They're the only reasonable answer

Just put up hand painted signs everywhere about how the holocaust wasn't real  or the new world order is coming to take your guns..  or whatever consipracy theory you want to use..  make sure the signs are big and really state some craazy stuff...

people will leave you alone after that.

Make the next rock heavy enough that it can't be moved easily. There's a chance it's some county monkey pretending they're actually doing their job right(I'm bitter since they berkeleyed up the drainage ditch in front of my house, did a E36 M3ty job paving the road next to my house, AND dumped a bunch of leftover asphalt down around a stop sign on my property) and technically the state or county has the right to mess with crap a couple of feet on either side of the road.

It's possible that someone called the city/twp/county/state road authority and requested a "hazard" be removed. I would check with whatever local jurisdiction has zoning/road authority and see what your options are for setbacks and right of ways etc. If legal, I would pour a huge rock-shaped pile of re-inforced concrete and paint it to match your other rocks.

In reply to 90BuickCentury :

I was also going to suggest to fully know who controls the area.  Like for my yard, the city controls the land from the inside of the sidewalk through the road- even though I have to maintain it.  So it's possible that the local municipality is doing it because.  (although if they are, I would think they would notify you)

Those are some really nice hi-res photos!

And your lawn is very nice.  And it sucks that people can't keep their vehicles in the dang road.  But (I think) technically the local jurisdiction asserts a right-of-way so many feet from the centerline of the road.  You may not have a legal right to place large objects within the right-of-way.

I recommend finding out which of the proposed solutions would be legally defensible.

Or just say "Berkeley it" and place some of these:

It’s super annoying that someone took your stuff, especially after you’d moved it back. It’s also super annoying that people can’t keep four wheels on the pavement. 

But if it were me, I’d leave it. Grass is just grass and there are better things to spend time on. Some things aren’t worth turning into a fight.

(from the perspective of someone who doesn’t care much about their lawn to begin with)

I would put the biggest rock that I could find right on the apex of that corner. Make sure that it's something that requires a backhoe or similar to move so it stays put. The neatly paint "checkmate" on it and call it done.

I vote bigger rocks. 

The county, city, or whoever likely has control of the right-of-way even if it's on your property. That's up to 15' off the road edge in some places. Placing anything in the right of way is likely illegal, ostensibly for the safety of motorists impacting stationary objects. 

I'd make dang sure I knew where the right of way was, how it was legally measured in the regs, and what the laws are about placing things therein. Once you know where you stand, I'd consider moving the big rocks out half way from where they are to the pavement. Abandon the grass on the street side. What were you going to do with that 3' anyway?

In reply to ultraclyde (Forum Supporter) :

this guy is probably right..  it's probably a right of way.. and you'll  lose this..  I'd just fill those holes with some gravel and be ok..

In reply to bearmtnmartin :

15 feet of an 18 foot wide road belong to me. So I understand what you're going through. City snow plows come through and tear off my Granite and stone resting wall.  
    Some battles aren't worth fighting over 

Don't replace the rock, dig a hole instead. Just big enough to swallow the average tire and 18+" deep. After they pound through it a few times, they will stop cutting the corner. 

As a bonus, you can blame the hole on the people that cut the corner.